BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 15
By Amina Nazarli - Trend:
Turkmenistan, an energy-rich Central Asian country, ranks among the world's top countries in terms of natural oil and gas reserves.
With 32 licensing blocks, the Turkmen part of the Caspian Sea possesses 12.1 billion tons of oil and gas condensate and 6.1 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Turkmenistan recovers around 10 million tons of oil per year, with production provided by the state concern Turkmenneft and firms operating under the PSA from the UK, Malaysia, and the UAE. Petronas, Dragon Oil, Buried Hill, Itera, and Eni are all involved in the Turkmen Caspian development.
"Block-1"
The Operator Is Petronas Charigali (Malaysia)
In Turkmenistan, PETRONAS Carigali operates on the basis of a Production Sharing Agreement on the contractual territory of the marine Block-1, signed in 1996. This year the company celebrated the 25th anniversary of bilateral cooperation with Turkmenistan.
Block 1, where 8 percent of the country's daily gas output comes from, is located around 80 km southwest of Turkmenbashi. It includes the Garagol-Deniz, Deyarbekir and Magtymguly fields. The area covers about 2000 km2 and the water depth ranges from 40 m in the east to 100 m in the west of the area.
Status:
With natural gas peak production at roughly 682 Mmcfd in 2019, the Block 1 conventional oil field recovered 37.88 percent of its total recoverable reserves. Production at the Block is planned to continue until the field reaches its economic limit in 2052.
Intensive oil and gas production is currently taking place at the Magtymguly and Diyarbekir fields.
Earlier in April PETRONAS Carigali activated the GDDP-A (Garagol Deniz Drilling Platform) oil drilling platform in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. The drilling platform is connected to the shore by a pipeline with a diameter of 14 inches.
Thus, through the platform, it is planned to pump the extracted crude oil, from where it will then go to the Gas Treatment Plant and Onshore Gas Terminal. The associated gas will be sent to a special gas pipeline, where it will be partially used for electricity generation. In the opposite direction, monoethylene glycol will be injected, which, when mixed with crude oil, will not allow it to thicken on the way from the well to the Gas Treatment Plant and Onshore Gas Terminal.
The planned productivity of the Garagol-Deniz Zapadny field is 6,700 barrels of oil per day.
Turkmenistan inked a 32-year contract with Petronas for natural gas production along the Caspian Sea's shore in 1996. Being the first partner of Turkmenistan for the development of offshore fields in the Caspian Sea, the company is seeking an extension of the current agreement with Turkmenistan until 2038.
“Cheleken Block"
The operator is Dragon Oil (UAE)
Dragon Oil is a subsidiary of the Emirates National Oil Company and has invested many billions in the development of offshore fields in Turkmenistan over the last 22 years. The main activity of the company is focused on the development of the Cheleken Contract Area. The area consists of two offshore oil and gas fields, namely Dzheitun and Dzhigalybeg, located in sea depths ranging from 8m to 42m in the Caspian Sea's eastern part.
With the total area of the contract territory of about 950 square km, it accounted for the country’s daily output of 7 percent. Oil and condensate reserves total 663 million barrels. The potential gas reserves are estimated to be 1.3 trillion cubic feet.
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Earlier in September, the company announced the plan to increase oil production in Turkmenistan from the current 160,000 to 300,000 barrels per day by 2026.
“We are determined to achieve our sustainable growth goals by unlocking new opportunities around the world, including Turkmenistan, Iraq, and Egypt,” the chief executive officer of Dragon Oil, Ali Rashid Al Jarwan said.
He stated that the current production of the company is 160,000 bpd of oil from all its assets, with around 60 percent accounting for the Chelekan Contract Area.
Recently, the company extended its contract in Turkmenistan, which was set to expire in 2025, for another 10 years at a cost of $400 million.
Block 21
The Operator Is ARETI International Group (Russia)
ARETI is the operator on Block 21 of the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea on the basis of a Production Sharing Agreement signed in September 2009.
The block has two structures: West Erdekli and South Erdekli. The company seismic studies estimate the recoverable reserves of this block at 800 billion cubic meters of gas and 95.5 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons. No wells have been drilled as of yet.
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This October head of the ARETI International Group Igor Makarov confirmed his willingness to continue playing an active role in large-scale projects being carried out in Turkmenistan. He presented new proposals for the development of oil and gas fields in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea to President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
The State Concern Turkmennebit and ARETI signed a Memorandum of Understanding in March 2019 to collaborate on the development of the Uzynada field in the shallow waters of the Caspian Sea.
Between 2017 and 2019, Turkmennebit and the State Corporation Turkmengeology developed multiple ultra-deep wells 7,000 meters deep in area Uzynada, resulting in industrial inflows of 100,000-500,000 cubic meters of natural gas and 130-150 tons of gas condensate per day. The memorandum required evaluating Turkmennebit's data on Uzynada for a year before negotiating a contract for the provision of services.
ENI
Block 19 and 20 (negotiation stage)
Italian ENI started operating in Turkmenistan in 2008 after acquiring Burren Energy Plc, where the company is conducting Exploration & Production activities in the onshore Nebit Dag block. In 2014, ENI extended the contract for the Nebit-Dag land block in Turkmenistan under the PSA for an additional ten years.
The company is interested in Blocks 19 and 20 with reserves of more than 500 million tons of oil and 630 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
The activities of Eni, which invested about $2 billion in Turkmenistan in the period 2008-2018, include a contract area of more than a thousand square kilometers in the Balkan region of the country.
Dostlug field in the Caspian Sea
Dostlug is a new name of the field that is located on the border of the Azerbaijani and Turkmen sectors of the Caspian Sea. It was known as Kepez in Azerbaijan and Sardar in Turkmenistan. Negotiations on the joint development of the field had previously taken place.
It is an oil and gas field, and its reserves can be confirmed by using contemporary seismic exploration techniques and, possibly, exploratory drilling. Many technological and commercial challenges concerning the future development of this subject must be addressed.
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A Memorandum of Understanding between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on joint exploration, development of hydrocarbon resources of the Dostlug field in the Caspian Sea was signed on January 21, 2021.
Earlier Jeyhun Bayramov, Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs noted the memorandum is the beginning of a new and important stage in the wider regional cooperation. “We are ready to embark on a new journey with our partners in Europe to deliver natural gas volumes from Azerbaijan to Western Balkans,” he said.
In July, the Azerbaijani and Turkmen ministers agreed upon further steps in cooperation on the field, following the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation to Turkmenistan within the framework of the joint group established to prepare and verify a draft intergovernmental agreement.
The document is supposed to regulate cooperation between the parties on joint exploration, development, and exploitation of the hydrocarbon resources of the “Dostlug” field, according to a statement issued by Azerbaijan’s energy ministry.
Earlier, SOCAR Deputy Vice President for Investments and Marketing Vitaly Baylarbayov stated that production on the field might begin within 3-5 years of the two countries' final agreement.
Block 3
The operator is Buried Hill (Canada)
Buried Hill signed a Production Sharing Agreement and received an Exploration Licence for Block III activities in the Caspian Sea, which included the huge Serdar oil discovery, in November 2007.
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The parties drew attention to new opportunities after the signing of the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea in August 2018.
The Absheron Peninsula, which includes the Serdar oil field, is the subject of a border dispute with Azerbaijan. The January memorandum of understanding inked by Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan appears to be particularly optimistic for the field's future development.
